


Responsibility

by spacefucker



Series: 30 Day Challenge (Marvel) [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Polyamory, Protective Steve, Steve and Tony planning to add Bucky, tony has a solution, worried steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 12:18:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8143742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacefucker/pseuds/spacefucker
Summary: Tony has a bad habit of taking responsibility for things that aren't his fault. But there's one thing he can take responsibility for that is.





	

People always assume that Tony isn’t responsible.

The people on his team held that assumption on him for a long time before slowly, one by one, they come to realize just how responsible Tony is. Because signing forms aside, Tony owns up to everything that goes wrong. Sometimes even things that weren’t really his fault. Tony is always the one to jump on accusations and take responsibility no matter whether or not they’re actually his fault.

It seems like its second nature, too. There’s never any really thought to it.

When Bucky steps into their lives Tony immediately starts pulling away from Steve. He knew that Tony would, too. Tony has this way about him where he, to protect himself, emotionally distances himself just to be safe. No matter what Steve tried, each day he got a little further and further.

Until Steve just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Tony, I’m not going to leave you.”

It’s uncomfortable for him, Steve knows, to talk about his feelings. It was always a pill to get anything out of Tony that wasn’t sarcastic or thinly veiled pain. But Steve knows these things about Tony and while it frustrated him, he stuck it out. He knew the secrets, he knew about Tony’s past and the horrible parent that Howard had been. Steve wasn’t stupid. And the one thing he wanted to do for the longest time was understand Tony. Even before they’d started dating it was something he wanted to do. There was more to Tony than the suit. He was a goddamn miracle to Steve.

“What?” Tony responds, shocked, and his smile contorts into a frown.

Steve reiterates, “I am not going to leave you.”

“I know that you two were together, Steve.” Tony isn’t playing dumb. “I know you love him. And that’s ok.”

Steve mirrors his frown and shifts his weight, thinking. Even in this Tony is willing to take responsibility for Steve’s feelings. Tony’s willing to take them and handle it all so Steve can be with Bucky.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say that I don’t love him.” Steve clears his throat. “But I love you, too.”

Tony’s face screws up and he looks to the side, “I know.”

Steve barrels on. “I love you both for different reasons. That doesn’t mean I love either of you any less.”

“So you’re saying?”

Steve sighs and pulls Tony into a hug, “I’m saying that it’s not my intention to leave you.”

Tony seems to deflate, like a great weight is lifted off his shoulders, and he wraps his arms tightly around Steve’s middle. Then it’s quiet for a moment. It’s lovely, as always, to hold Tony. He’s small, but compact, strong and always vibrating with barely-contained energy. He always hugs like it’s the last thing he’s going to do.

“I like Bucky, too, you know?”

Steve mentally shakes himself out of thought, “Yeah? What do you mean?”

Tony nuzzles Steve’s chest before turning his face to the side to speak more clearly. Steve can’t see his face but he’s not willing to let Tony go yet.

“He’s an honest person.” Something Steve knew was important to Tony. “He knows when to and when not to bother me in the lab. I’ve never met a kinder person in my life who also manages to be severely sarcastic and funny. He’s a great guy. Hot, too. He’s a catch.”

Steve can’t help but agree but still doesn’t know what Tony’s saying, “Yeah. What are you getting at, though? You’re palavering the point.”

“I’m saying that maybe you don’t have to choose. You can have both.”

Steve is stunned into silence. He pulls away from Tony then and holds him while searching his eyes. There’s a blush working its way across Tony’s nose and Steve is still confused.

“You want me to have an affair with Bucky?”

Tony sighs and runs his hands up Steve’s chest to rest on his shoulders, “No. Look…Christ. Ok, I was thinking something more like adding him.”

Steve’s mind short-circuits and he just blinks at Tony, “Like a threesome?”

“I was thinking more than sex, actually. Like a poly sort of thing. Do you know what that is?”

Steve shakes his head. He really doesn’t it wasn’t something he’d heard much of anything about in the past and no one had told him to look it up here.

“No.”

Tony smiles a little and squeezes his shoulders, “It’s a relationship between more than the standard two-person relationship. So in this case it would be an equal, open and honest relationship between you, Bucky, and myself.”

This is a totally new concept for Steve. He searches Tony’s eyes for something, anything that would indicate displeasure. This definitely sounds like something he could get behind. He loves Tony and Bucky both and he could easily imagine a life with the two of them.

“Is this something you want, Tony? Will you really be happy with this?” Steve asks, knowing that Tony would ask it out of some sort of convoluted feeling of responsibility for Steve’s happiness.

Tony looks at him, considering, and smiles, “I’ve been thinking on it for a while. Bucky and I have gotten close and I think that it’s something that has the capacity to work. We have close to equal footing here. Bucky and I would need a little work but I’m willing to put that work in. Both emotionally and physically.”

Steve swallows and tries to get that image out of his head. He still has questions he needs answered.

“Why were you pulling away, then? I could tell you were giving me space for something. I thought you wanted me to break up with you.”

“No!” Tony yells and then rings himself in. “I just wanted some time to really think it through. I needed to know, personally, if I could try this. I had to think it through to decide if I could share you with someone you already had history with.”

“I have history with you now, too, Tony. We’ve been through a lot together.”

“I know,” Tony soothes, “that’s why I decided to try it. I think I can do it. And Bucky is worth the try.”

Steve smiles, “What do you think he’ll say?”

“Well,” Tony practically purrs, “if they way he’s been looking at the both of us is indicative of anything I’d say he’ll be up for it.”

Steve suppresses a groan, “When are we gonna talk to him?”

“I was thinking now.” Tony smiles.

Steve laughs, “Now is good.”


End file.
